DOT Completes Crossover Barrier Protection Program Along Dangerous Highways

DOT Commissioner Jim Simpson visits a crossover barrier construction site along I-195 in Upper Freehold (photo by David Matthau)

The Jersey Department of Transportation has completed a crossover crash protection project - that began 5 years ago.

Crossover protection guardrail barriers have been erected along 134 miles of high-risk Interstate highway - where the median is 60 feet or less.

DOT Commissioner Jim Simpson says in these areas "there is a high probability that if a motorist loses control, there will be a head-on collision - in other words, somebody from the Eastbound lane could wind up in the Westbound lane, and when you're talking about those high rates of speed, it's a really horrific accident…it's bad enough when somebody loses control of a car in an accident, or falls asleep - there's only one thing worse than that - for them to cross over to the other side of the highway and take the life, or really hurt somebody else who was doing everything right."

He says installation of the barriers has made a real difference.

"In 2004 we had 69 crashes" he says, "but in 2009 it went down to 18- the number of injuries 5 years ago was 151, and we've gotten that number down to 15, but most importantly, 5 years ago we had 17 fatalities in one year because of lack of crossover protection - in 09 we only had one….if you've got a car going 65 miles an hour in one direction, and then 65 in the other, the impact is like a freight train at 130 miles an hour."

The Commissioner adds to really be safe, motorists need "to be vigilant, don't speed, stay in your lane, and if you're tired, get off the road."

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